AlQa'dah 20, 1432, Oct 18, 2011, SPA - U.S. stocks finished lower, with all three major indexes falling over One percent. In world markets, European stocks ended lower, with the declines led by the DAX in Germany falling 1.8 percent. Asian markets finished higher, led by the Hang Seng in Hong Kong rising 2 percent. In U.S. economic news, U.S. industrial production increased 0.2 percent in September after being unchanged the previous month, as factory output and mining activity increased while utility output decreased sharply, the Federal Reserve (Fed) reported. In U.S. company news, Halliburton Company posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as drilling projects in North America continued to help its financial results. The company reported profit of $683 million in the July-September period, compared with $544 million in the same period in 2010. Revenue grew 40.4 percent to $6.55 billion. Separately, Wells Fargo & Company said its third-quarter profit increased 21 percent as write-offs of bad loans decreased while deposits grew, but the bank posted lower-than-expected revenue for the period. The bank said its net profit rose to $4.06 billion in the July-September period, compared to $3.34 billion in the year-ago quarter. The profit results were in line with Wall Street expectations. But revenue fell 4 percent to $19.63 billion from $20.39 billion a year earlier. Meanwhile, Banking giant Citigroup Incorporated reported a higher third-quarter net income as it set aside less money to cover bad loans. Citigroup reported net income of $3.8 billion, or $1.23 per share, up from $2.2 billion, or 72 cents per share, a year ago. The U.S. dollar rose versus the euro but fell versus the yen. Light sweet crude oil for November delivery fell 42 cents to $86.38 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures fell $6.40 to $1,676.60 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 247.49, or 2.1 percent, to 11,397.00. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 23.72, or 1.9 percent, to 1,200.86. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 52.93, or 2.0 percent, to 2,614.92.
